Say a prayer for those hurt by priest

Every day, millions of men stay true to their vow to “forsake all others.” Thousands of others fall to the temptation of the forbidden fruit. Every day, thousands of priests remain true to their vow of chastity. Regretfully, some fall to temptation.

Those thousands of men who fail to remain true to their vows to forsake others very seldom find their names in the paper unless they are someone famous. This is not the case with clergymen, especially priests. The news media seem to gloat over their demise. On Dec. 7, almost two-thirds of a page was dedicated to the sin of former priest Thomas Williams.

The sad part of these stories about fallen clergymen is that there were many people who placed their trust in them. These followers now feel deceived and begin to doubt the truthfulness of anything that the clergyman told them. How many people will have a lonely Christmas because they feel alienated from their church over something done or said by a clergyman?

Instead of reading these stories as a juicy piece of gossip, take time to say a prayer for the person and all those who have been injured by those actions.

— Paul F. Janning, Wapakoneta

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